Deborah
ENGL 3850-02N
Supernatural Lit
Dr. Coats
19 March, 1998
It's D-lightful, It's D-lerious, It's...Cthulhu?!?
Weeeeeeel....(sigh). I do so hope you'll understand. I do so hope the Cthulhu-philes in this class won't toss me out the window. I do so wish I liked this story more than I do. Don't get me wrong-- I have nothing but admiration for the fevered brain that tossed forth the legend of Cthulhu onto the beaches of the polite public. Any man that unsettles more than two generations with this gelatinous goo-type of a being gets my applause. I think that the problem stems from two factors.
One: that I have heard too much glowing press about Cthulhu from my peers. They built this story up so much in my mind that I guess I expected something...more.
Two: as I stated before, I have more fear about things I can see than things I can't. Then again, I have never been in danger of my life from either type.
I did enjoy the story for its embrace of more than one culture. Cthulhu does not exclude any one culture in his/her/its quest for power. Eskimos, Louisiana swamp-rats, and "deathless Chinamen" are all empowered and overpowered by Cthulhu's strong-arm (strong-tentacle?) tactics. Each group adjusts its previous worship to suit the new dreaming.
I must be a cruel person at heart, for all I could think of when the men on the ship discovered the island was "Don't get off of the ship...Ok, don't go up to the city...Ok, don't touch anything...Ok, don't open the stupid door...Well, don't say I didn't warn you." As the men ran gibbering down to the ship, I was giggling. Hey, don't get me wrong; if a monstrous squid-type thing rose out of the depths, you bet I'd either go mad or run screaming like a little girl. But I wouldn't go poking around oddly architectured cities in the first place.
So, as I understand it, Cthulhu is not The God of Darkness, but his high priest, and even nastier things are out there, waiting to eat our brains with mustard and ketchup. But not right now. Cthulhu is asleep in his city under the depths of the ocean. His followers are the only ones aware of his state of awakening, but he's not awake now, or all of mankind would be nutso. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Don't warn me when Cthulhu wakes up. I want to be caught completely unaware when it happens.